Now, many moons ago...before we even had a kid...I vowed never to take our hypothetical future children to a portrait studio. I just wasn't going to do it. But I will admit, that I almost went back on that for this picture...however, I resisted. And I set up the portrait myself. So Frazier's red overalls picture still looks enough like the others (maybe even better), but I didn't break my vow. :)
Without further ado...here's Frazier's alongside Josh's...both at six months; both in the same overalls.
The black background I could replicate...the fab mauve/purple backdrop with the peach thermal blanket? Not so much.
They're looking less alike to me.
Here's something crazy...I was going to put his Converse sneakers on for the picture, but the white socks he had on were too thick so I just left him in socks only. Then I asked Debbie to send Josh's overall pictures and look! He's just wearing white socks, too! Weird, wild stuff.
And now, because I know you don't get enough pictures of Frazier here...here are some more of the "studio" pictures we took.
And this room *sniffle* (my studio):
...into the new boring spare room seen here:
*Sidenote: This whole overhaul was actually made somewhat easier thanks to the Hurricane Ike damage that led to new carpet which led to the center of the house looking like this- what you can't see is our bed in the living room...and that I'm like, five or six months pregnant in all this:
I mean, everything was out of the rooms anyway so what better time to rearrange the whole house?
I'm not sure you can fully appreciate the mess via pictures. It was bad...whatever you imagine it might've been based on the pictures above-it was much worse. But I did it...and thus this:
...became this:
...and this:
...a breakfast room/office/studio. The "breakfast table" is my old studio table (seen above) and the shelves in there housed all my main art stuff. The shelving unit (minus a lot of stuff that went to Goodwill) was transplanted to the dining room wall in place of a couple of paintings and the bottom three shelves were rearranged to have only kid friendly stuff on them.
However, there was still this buffet which has shelves behind the curtains that were filled with breakable stuff:
...and, of course, the shelves with the art supplies that were still not kid friendly. And I put that off until now. I decided this week that it had to be addressed. So address it I did. 
Ideally, I'd have floor-to-ceiling built-in wrap-around shelving in there. But since I was on my own I had to make just one big shelving unit. Plus I hung the little cabinet (that used to have my art supplies on it in the breakfast room) on the wall which gave me even more storage space...which I used for pantry items. The other shelves I filled with the breakable items from the dining room (still putting relatively safe items on the lower shelves). Viola!! (*this is all across from my washer and dryer...I'm sitting on the dryer to take this picture) 
The buffet shelves are now empty. I guess they'll stay that way indefinitely. My plan is to put a gate on the laundry room door which should keep Frazier not only away from these shelves, but also out of the garage. I figured it'd be easier to keep him out of just that one little room than the whole dining/breakfast/kitchen area. My new shelves were mostly constructed out of materials I already had so it didn't cost me much and I was able to move the old bookcase that was in there out to the garage where I'll be putting my art supplies. And the breakfast room/office/no longer part studio (the pic below is one from awhile ago, but it gave a good overview of it from the kitchen)...is eventually going to be a playroom/office! 
Problem solved? I hope so. 
So I gave Frazier some avocado. It went well, I think.
Also gave him some breastmilk (I refuse to introduce juice...but may concede to some water eventually) in a sippy cup. Or a Nuby, rather, with a soft sippy nipple. It, too, went well. He hasn't had a bottle in a couple of months at least so I was really surprised he figured out what to do with it with very little help. He's brilliant...I knew he would be. :)
The last two of the baby feeding items I ordered came in this week...(the first being the Baby Cubes.) One is this collapsible steamer, strainer, colander...which will be handy for making fresh food on the go...and at home. 
I showed it to my parents on iChat and Mom said it looked just right for a hat.
The second thing (also great for fresh feeding on the go and also made by Bean Sprouts- a much better company name than Baby Cubes) is this "grinder bowl". The smaller end is rough at the bottom and the spoon (which snaps into the lid for travel convenience) has soft ridges on the back so the two together (plus a human) make a paste of whatever you put in there. It worked well with avocado. All I needed was this little bit, but theoretically you could mash it up in small batches, moving the smooth stuff to the big side until you had it all filled up. So handy...so smart. 
The final piece of hardware (which I didn't have to order) in my collection of food introduction gear is this Munchkin fresh food feeder...which is basically a fine mesh bag on the end of a plastic ring thing. You can put fresh or frozen fruit or something in there and they can suck on it getting tiny little pieces through the mesh, but never enough to choke on. Who comes up with this stuff? Anyway, I put a chunk of avocado in there and gave it to him while we ate dinner. Worked like a charm. 
Oh, and this last picture I just thought was funny. In our spare time, Josh has been reading The Lord of The Rings aloud to us. So tonight he and Frazier were in bed reading and I was half-listening half straightening the house. One of the times I walked in to this: Josh, a little furry spot that is Gatsby, and two legs in the air that are Frazier. :) 
Who is still under the coffee table chewing on it.
I decided our first food would be 
Great product, but does anyone else think the name could be something better? I mean, Baby Cubes? Really? Does that phrase make anyone else feel weird?
Anyway, they're 2 oz each and have a mL measuring guide on each one. They fit down into this tray for stacking in your freezer:
One butternut squash (plus approx. 3 oz of breastmilk) made about 14 oz of puree, though I didn't make a big point of pureeing all the useable parts...I just scooped out the best and easiest part to scoop out. I mean, we don't want to be eating squash forever and I didn't want to have to store it a long period of time even in the freezer. 
He did, however, have a fabulous time playing in it... 
...and then he had a good time playing in the bathtub.
